"Using a model to plan your organizational change is important to avoid failure," says Reck.

Small Office, Big Changes: Reck Helps College Leaders Plan for Future

APRIL 15, 2015 — BALTIMORE, MD. — Daniel M. Reck and collague S. Reed Cooper presented a session about managing organizational change to a packed room today at the national conference of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) in Baltimore. Immediately afterward, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, addressed the gathering.

"We shared models and perspectives about managing organizational change as a small office," says Reck, the associate registrar on Midwestern University’s campus in Illinois. "We have just four staff members but are responsible for rolling out programs that affect the entire university."

"Often these conferences focus on change management in large offices with twenty-plus staff members," says Cooper, Midwestern’s registrar in Illinois. Their session instead explored case studies of small offices effecting large changes. They examined how each individual member of that small office can have a significant impact on the success of the work.

"We illustrated practical approaches to change management rooted in a comprehensive change model," says Reck. He and Cooper have successfully applied that model and related research to managing the operational, technical and personnel changes of their four-person office as they provide services for the entire university.